A lesson in anger management.

I have a temper, and not little one either mind you.

I went to Zach's Christmas party Friday because another mom and I helped organize and plan it. Some other parents came to help also, including the third mom who was supposed to help us, but... never came to any of the planning meetings or return our calls. So already we (other mom and I) are frustrated with her, then the non-helping mom came in at the time only parents helping set up parties were supposed to come and then sat on her butt and did nothing the whole time. She did nothing even when we were hurrying to prepare the craft and game she was supposed to prepare before the party.
BUT... I put all this aside because we were having fun and we knew the kids would be enjoying it.
Other parents started showing up and we had 4 crafts and 2 games for the students to do after eating donuts and listening to "the Night Before Christmas." We had about 10 parents show up and we had to beg them to help at the craft/game areas, and only 3 said they would, so the teacher picked up the slack on the last spot. The non-helping mom was not one of the 3 to volunteer. She stayed with her son and went around from one area to another with him.
Non-helping mom and her son came to my area last. As we were working on ornaments (recipe coming in next post) non-helping mom and another mom were chatting and somehow the year 1987 came up. Non-helping mom is an older mom. She had her son in Zach's class in her early 40s and her older son is a few years older than me. She said how her son was in kindergarten in 1987. The other mom said she was in like 3rd grade in 1987. Then both of them look at me, so I sit for a moment thinking "uhhhh..." not sure what to say. Non-helping mom then comes out and asks what grade I was in in 1987. My response, "Um, I was born in 1987." She then has the nerve to look me up and down and say "(Snort) Well then you decided to get started really young didn't you?"
Non-helping mom and other mom proceed to act as if I am not even there sitting across from them as they go on about how horrible teenage pregnancy has become, and how really its all just horrible that teenagers would throw away their lives, and how girls now just seem to think they have to have a baby by 18 to fit in. I'm getting angrier and angrier, really thinking of asking this lady who is older than my MOM if she thought it was anymore responsible for her to have had a baby at her age, and who the heck did she think she was to think she had any right to judge me. Thankfully, Zach's teacher was at the table next to our's and when she noticed she said it was time to switch activities. I was going to get up and follow them when the dad of one of the other boys, who happened to know me from helping in Zach's class last year, came over and told me to just let it go. I need to set the example of being the bigger person.
And he was right, so I did.

Eating like a big girl!

So we've been giving Bella more and more table food for the past couple of months. However, everything we had been giving her were things we had first ran through the blender and then fed her with her spoon. Well, right before Thanksgiving last month we had to go to a funeral and after it we went to Olive Garden. We ordered the unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks, and oh em gee, Bella LOVED the breadsticks. I gave her a whole one to gum, thinking there is no way she can bite any off, but no siree, she bit a nice sized chunk off and proceeded to gum it to oblivion. She was in piggy-Bella heaven. She went through two whole breadsticks while we were there. Since then we've been giving her baby puffs, and bread for her chomping needs. Sunday night we had salisbury steak and mashed potatoes. I made it not knowing the boys wouldn't be eating with us, and when I found out they weren't I cut up 1/2 of one into teeny tiny pieces and put it on a plate with some potatoes for Bella. This just rocked her little world, it was the most excellent food in her opinion, so excellent in fact instead of sharing with the dog as she usually does, she screamed at the dog when she came to close. It was so funny to watch her get so excited about it.

A Little Fun!

A few of us siggy making and digital scrapbooking ladies over at Justmommies' Siggies R Us and Digital Scrapbooking board got together and nominated some of the digital scrapbooking sites we felt were the best based on the following qualifications:

• Product quality
• Customer service
• Pricing
• Freebies, and Sales
• Forum/Gallery Activity

The following sites were all nominated:
Shabby Pickle, Scrap Orchard, After Five Designs, Pickleberry Pop, Scrap Matters, Enchanted Scrap Studio, Sweet Shoppe Designs, Funky Playground Designs, Elemental Scraps, The French Frog, Digital-Crea, Scrap Bird, Groovy Scraps, and Digital Scrap Cafe.
The top 3 winners will be announced January first. Good luck to all of the stores who were nominated!

Quick explanation post

I'll be back in just a little bit with an actual post, but I thought I would explain first why I haven't posted in a while.
1. No working computer at home.
2. No internet at home at the moment. (Has to do with a battle I lost with our internet company.)

"Where the Wild Things Are" (A 5 Year-Old's Movie Review)

So last night I took Zach, Ryan, and Ryan's friend Zada to go see "Where the Wild Things Are." I won't give you Ryan's complete take on it seeing as how he is an easily distracted almost 4 year-old, but I'll give you his brief opinion: "I didn't like it." It might be his favorite book, but the movie did not hold his interest that much. I'll give you my take on it after Zach's.
I had to wait until this afternoon to ask him since he was asleep when we got home last night, and rushed this morning, but I took the time to write down his answers, in his words for the review.
Did you like the movie we saw last night?
Wild Things? Uh huh, but it was kinda scary.
What did you like about it?
I liked the beginning when he built the igloo, and his fort. I liked when he was bad and made his sister's room wet, and when he yelled at his mom, but that is bad. I liked the wild things and when they ran and acted silly. And the clubhouse Max and Carol built was cool. I really liked when he ran back home to his mom and she wasn't mad. (But you'd be mad right mommy?)
What else did you think about the movie?
It was kinda creepy, and funny. Oh and silly.
How was it scary?
It was scary when wild things were angry at him when he helped Carol. And then, when that bird one said Max was just a boy and Carol tore off his arm I had to close my eyes, it scared me a lot then.
What was your favorite part?
Oh, I really liked when they had that dirt fight. It was so silly. (Can I have a dirt fight?) But then, it wasn't so silly. They were mean to that goat wild thing, and that made me sad.
Do you want to see the movie again?
Yes... but not til it comes cd (dvd) that way I can stop watching it when I get too scared.

I tried to go into it with an open mind knowing a lot would have to be added to make the 12ish line book movie length. I thought the wild things looked amazing, they extremely impressed me. However, the wild things did not roar their terrible roars, or roll their terrible eyes, or gnash their terrible teeth, or show their terrible claws at the beginning or end. Nor did Max's room turn into the forest where the wild things are. Some of the wild things are coupled off and in love, and the relationship between the two major wild things, the reason behind all of the wild things' unhappiness went way over all three kids' heads. So did most of the witty-ish jokes that one wild thing made, as a matter of fact, I hated the personality they gave the wild thing Judith. It really seemed like they took a wonderful children's book and tried to gear the story line more towards adults, or at least people older than the book's targeted audience, and that really upset me.
However, after saying all of the above, I did really enjoy the movie, and will most definitly buy it when it becomes available on dvd.

Ahhhh! The joy of a well-sized carrier!

Ok, Bella loves to be held and to be close. The boys also loved to be held, but both of them had a huge sense of independence and preferred more to be able to go and do on their own. Both boys hated every single kind of baby carrier I put them in. So, when I was pregnant with Bella I did not ask for or buy any carriers, but somehow did end up with one. Once we had her John occasionally used the carrier with Bella, but I didn't, my boobs were just too big for too long to wear it comfortably, and Bella didn't really enjoy having John wear it.
Since we've stopped nursing and my chest has gone down to ((below)) normal I try Bella out in the carrier every so often. And... she always hated it, and I hated it too. It had been regulated to the junk pile in my entry hall (doesn't get used).
Well, the city we live in holds a fair/craft festival/car show type thing every year that the whole county takes place in. Since there's not really anything of fun to do around us, unless you want to drive to Memphis, its a pretty big deal. We didn't go last year because it was too hot, but this year it was on a beautiful slightly chilly day. Our house is close enough to where it was only a 10 minute walk to get to Celebrate so John and I got Bella and Ryan together (Zach spends weekends with my mom) and set out. We got two houses down when John decided we should go back and get the carrier because it really sucks trying to navigate the crowded area with a stroller. I told him I'd rather not, Bella and I don't like it. And then he asked the question that left me feeling kinda stupid "Well, did you ever adjust the straps? They're adjusted for me and I'm 8 inches taller than you, plus wider than you."
Yeah the carrier, once my wonderful husband fixed it for me, was wonderful. It made walking through the crowds very easy, kept Bella very warm, and for once, allowed Bella to sleep while we were out and doing.

On our way:




At Celebrate:






On the way home:






And the only down side of it was when some cranky old man stopped me and announced Bella must be freezing since she wasn't in a stroller with a blanket. I told him, no between my body heat and Bella's that she's probably warmer than any of the babies with blankets. He then said it must be some "new hippy thing" and walked away muttering about young parents.

Here's to sucking up my pride.

Obviously I don't mind putting this out for any and all to see...
We're broke. Like super-no money-fighting-broke.
For the past two months I've put off contacting the Health Department and the Department of Human Services, and both my grandmothers. We were on Foodstamps, and then I made the decision that we would not renew them after John's grandmother's estate was settled. And Bella has been unable to get on WIC because you have to have shots to get it, and her doctor did not want her starting shots until she was 6 months. Well, we went in for her 6 month check up and he said she was good to start them up, which means we're good to start WIC. John has told me I have have have to get us set back up on Foodstamps. Oh, and if I could call one of my grandmothers and ask to borrow some money that would be highly appreciated too.
See, there's this issue of my pride getting stuck in my throat when I try to swallow it and go and ask for help. I really don't want to. I'm of the mind there has to be a family out there who needs it more than we do, John's response is "Show me a 5 person family making $13,000 a year, who own their home, and aren't on some sort of assistance." But still, this just isn't something a person looks forward to. Its like admitting not only can we not take care of it all ourselves, we so can't do it we're asking you for help. I wasn't even the kind of student who would ask the teacher for help, this just so rubs me wrong.
But I have to do it. For the sake of my children and my marriage. So, as the title says, here's to sucking up my pride (and asking for help).